SMC green light for LEO’s Enstilar

GPs and dermatology clinicians in Scotland are now authorised to prescribe LEO Pharma's Enstilar on the NHS for the management of all severities of plaque psoriasis in adult patients, after it was endorsed by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.

Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease, which is frequently accompanied by multiple physical and/or psychological comorbidities, such as psoriatic arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and depression, and is thought to affect up to three percent of the UK's population.

Enstilar - a cutaneous foam formulation of (calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate - won European approval in March this year after data from the pivotal Phase IIIa PSO-FAST study showed that over half of patients treated with it were considered "Clear" or "Almost Clear" by week four of treatment, as measured by the Investigator Global Assessment improvement score.

Additionally, more than half of patients treated with Enstilar achieved a 75 percent improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score from baseline, the LEO noted.

LEO noted that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which reviews treatments for the NHS in England and Wales, does not need to review Enstilar as the combination treatment does not meet with its criteria for Health Technology Appraisals, given that these two active agents are well established in the NHS and the market.